“Runner Runner” employs a monotonous voiceover from star Justin Timberlake to summarize and quickly dispense of “the boring parts” — your character motivations, your exposition and what have you — but what “Runner Runner” does not consider is that coming off like an abridged version of a longer motion picture is not so good either. Though given how largely unconvincing Timberlake and co-star Ben Affleck are in their roles, a longer version couldn’t have solved every problem. Online poker is not much of a firm foundation for a taut thriller, even one that aspires toward something not dissimilar to a mid-‘90s John Grisham adaptation with even fewer surprises than that indicates. Timberlake stars as Richie, a Princeton student who gambled his masters degree tuition and lost big on a major online gambling site. Calculating the numbers, Richie finds that he has been cheated, so he heads to Costa Rica to confront the high-living CEO (Affleck) of the company. The CEO offers Richie a job instead, and some months pass with Timberlake living the high life and earning his wages doing something undetermined. That is, until the feds come knocking and lean on Richie to spy on his new mentor. What’s his boss into that’s got the FBI so riled? You’ll see the twists coming from miles away — a supporting character who randomly mentions his wife is expecting a child might as well wear a neon sign that says “Something bad will happen to me” — and “Runner Runner” offers nothing to enliven that experience, making it the perfect movie to idly watch on cable at 2 a.m. in 15 years or so. If then. $29.98 DVD, $39.99 Blu-ray.

“THANKS FOR SHARING”

With a cast including Mark Ruffalo, Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim Robbins, “Thanks for Sharing,” a comedy-drama that seeks to humanize sex addiction and check in with three men in various stages of the program by which they live to minimize their illness’s impact, should make more of an impact. But writer-director Stuart Blumberg’s debut feature is inconsistent in everything but its schmaltz and earnestness. Its jokes, whenever they may arise, fall flat, and its dramatic scenes largely fall victim to the usual frustrations that arise when a screenwriter forces conflict in romantic comedies. While its performers do their best, they can’t enliven what becomes in essence a melodramatic self-help pamphlet brought strained to the screen without anything structurally interesting enough to differentiate itself from any of the other noble illness recovery stories we’ve seen. Ruffalo, Robbins and Josh Gad star as three men at different stages of recovery who meet in the 12-step meeting they attend (either by choice or court order). While Ruffalo’s character has recently gotten his life back on track, his encounter with Paltrow’s appealing single woman upends his world, even as he misleads her despite a pretty clear ultimatum that she isn’t interested in dating addicts. Meanwhile, Robbins’ troubled son (Patrick Fugit) returns home, and Gad’s professional life collapses as a result of his uncontrolled impulses, though he soon finds friendship in a fellow addict (Alecia Moore, also known as the pop singer Pink, making an OK screen debut). They collide, they argue, things end nicely; you’ve been there, you’ve done that. $19.98 DVD, $24.99 Blu-ray.

“WE ARE WHAT WE ARE”

Moody and dripping with atmosphere, “We Are What We Are” is one of 2014’s most understated — and underseen — horror films, a slow-paced skin-crawler that reveals its secrets meticulously for maximum impact as the upstate New York setting seemingly drowns under a continuous rain. A remake of a 2010 Mexican film, “We Are What We Are” is centered around a family with a dark secret (one held onto a little longer in this one than the original, so it’s one I won’t reveal, either). The patriarch (Bill Sage) is an imposing man of few words with some strict ancestral customs. His wife has just died, after going to town, having something of a breakdown, and collapsing. Their two teenage daughters (Ambyr Childers, “The Master,” and Julia Garner, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”) now seem to live not only in mourning but in uncertainty and fear of their new role to play in these religious observations of their family. Meanwhile, local authorities — including a physician (Michael Parks) and a deputy (Wyatt Russell) — draw closer to uncovering the awful truth. The film missteps with a conclusion that substitutes its subtle scares for something more operatic and over-the-top, but overall it’s not enough to outweigh the smart filmmaking that precedes it. $24.98 for DVD or Blu-ray.

“CLOSED CIRCUIT”

It might be said that “Closed Circuit” rewards close concentration on the part of its viewer, but “reward” is the wrong word. It requires close concentration, but the viewer doesn’t get any pleasure in return. That makes this dour thriller something close to dead on arrival; while its bleak views on government malfeasance in the War on Terror are clear enough, “Closed Circuit” certainly isn’t doing or saying anything you haven’t heard before, and in much better films, too. Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall star as two lawyers in England called upon to represent the single surviving suspect apprehended after a particularly deadly terrorist attack in London. He will represent the suspect in public court, while she will represent him in a closed classified court, privy to more information from MI5 and the government. They are ordered not to communicate, though this will not be a difficulty as they are former lovers who don’t really like each other that much. (This plot point is by the film’s end almost completely irrelevant, and the stunning lack of chemistry with which Bana and Hall interact is a major drag.) Bana is representing the young man after the previous lawyer on the case died; he soon discovers, after a cursory investigation, the same secret that puts his own life in danger. “Closed Circuit” has the makings of something interesting, but it never gets off the ground, with fine ideas half-explored or ignored with little regard. $29.98 DVD, $34.98 Blu-ray.

“I’M SO EXCITED”

Pedro Almodovar goes way, way too broad with the campy comedy “I’m So Excited,” a rare misstep for the Spanish auteur and something of an unfunny drag after the master director’s last few thrilling melodramas. Almodovar has, of course, proven quite adept with colorful, campy broad comedy in the past, but this aimless farce is hardly a return to form. “I’m So Excited” takes place on a troubled flight above Spain as two bisexual pilots, three gay flight attendants and a mixed bag of business class passengers, including a middle-aged virginal woman who claims she has visions of the future, are confronted with an unexpected problem with the aircraft that could result in their deaths. As the plane circles in the skies in search of a safe place to attempt a landing, its flight attendants get drunker, its pilots grow more adventurous and its passengers trade bawdy lines until they start trading other things, too. “I’m So Excited” is filled with actors and actresses Almodovar has worked with in the past — perhaps two of the most famous show up in a small cameo at the beginning. The performances are not the problem. And on a scene to scene basis, there are some amusing jokes and committed farcical lunacy; the song and dance number from which the film gets its title is a hoot. But the film is uncharacteristically slapshod for Almodovar, poorly paced with no momentum. There’s no sense of cohesion, other than the camp and sexual humor that pervades it; the film ends up feeling quite a bit like the aircraft, moving aimlessly with no goal in site. $40.99 DVD/Blu-ray combo.

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“RUNNER RUNNER”

“Runner Runner” employs a monotonous voiceover from star Justin Timberlake to summarize and quickly dispense of “the boring parts” — your character motivations, your exposition and what have you — but what “Runner Runner” does not consider is that coming off like an abridged version of a longer motion picture is not so good either. Though given how largely unconvincing Timberlake and co-star Ben Affleck are in their roles, a longer version couldn’t have solved every problem. Online poker is not much of a firm foundation for a taut thriller, even one that aspires toward something not dissimilar to a mid-‘90s John Grisham adaptation with even fewer surprises than that indicates. Timberlake stars as Richie, a Princeton student who gambled his masters degree tuition and lost big on a major online gambling site. Calculating the numbers, Richie finds that he has been cheated, so he heads to Costa Rica to confront the high-living CEO (Affleck) of the company. The CEO offers Richie a job instead, and some months pass with Timberlake living the high life and earning his wages doing something undetermined. That is, until the feds come knocking and lean on Richie to spy on his new mentor. What’s his boss into that’s got the FBI so riled? You’ll see the twists coming from miles away — a supporting character who randomly mentions his wife is expecting a child might as well wear a neon sign that says “Something bad will happen to me” — and “Runner Runner” offers nothing to enliven that experience, making it the perfect movie to idly watch on cable at 2 a.m. in 15 years or so. If then. $29.98 DVD, $39.99 Blu-ray.

“THANKS FOR SHARING”

With a cast including Mark Ruffalo, Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim Robbins, “Thanks for Sharing,” a comedy-drama that seeks to humanize sex addiction and check in with three men in various stages of the program by which they live to minimize their illness’s impact, should make more of an impact. But writer-director Stuart Blumberg’s debut feature is inconsistent in everything but its schmaltz and earnestness. Its jokes, whenever they may arise, fall flat, and its dramatic scenes largely fall victim to the usual frustrations that arise when a screenwriter forces conflict in romantic comedies. While its performers do their best, they can’t enliven what becomes in essence a melodramatic self-help pamphlet brought strained to the screen without anything structurally interesting enough to differentiate itself from any of the other noble illness recovery stories we’ve seen. Ruffalo, Robbins and Josh Gad star as three men at different stages of recovery who meet in the 12-step meeting they attend (either by choice or court order). While Ruffalo’s character has recently gotten his life back on track, his encounter with Paltrow’s appealing single woman upends his world, even as he misleads her despite a pretty clear ultimatum that she isn’t interested in dating addicts. Meanwhile, Robbins’ troubled son (Patrick Fugit) returns home, and Gad’s professional life collapses as a result of his uncontrolled impulses, though he soon finds friendship in a fellow addict (Alecia Moore, also known as the pop singer Pink, making an OK screen debut). They collide, they argue, things end nicely; you’ve been there, you’ve done that. $19.98 DVD, $24.99 Blu-ray.

“WE ARE WHAT WE ARE”

Moody and dripping with atmosphere, “We Are What We Are” is one of 2014’s most understated — and underseen — horror films, a slow-paced skin-crawler that reveals its secrets meticulously for maximum impact as the upstate New York setting seemingly drowns under a continuous rain. A remake of a 2010 Mexican film, “We Are What We Are” is centered around a family with a dark secret (one held onto a little longer in this one than the original, so it’s one I won’t reveal, either). The patriarch (Bill Sage) is an imposing man of few words with some strict ancestral customs. His wife has just died, after going to town, having something of a breakdown, and collapsing. Their two teenage daughters (Ambyr Childers, “The Master,” and Julia Garner, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”) now seem to live not only in mourning but in uncertainty and fear of their new role to play in these religious observations of their family. Meanwhile, local authorities — including a physician (Michael Parks) and a deputy (Wyatt Russell) — draw closer to uncovering the awful truth. The film missteps with a conclusion that substitutes its subtle scares for something more operatic and over-the-top, but overall it’s not enough to outweigh the smart filmmaking that precedes it. $24.98 for DVD or Blu-ray.

“CLOSED CIRCUIT”

It might be said that “Closed Circuit” rewards close concentration on the part of its viewer, but “reward” is the wrong word. It requires close concentration, but the viewer doesn’t get any pleasure in return. That makes this dour thriller something close to dead on arrival; while its bleak views on government malfeasance in the War on Terror are clear enough, “Closed Circuit” certainly isn’t doing or saying anything you haven’t heard before, and in much better films, too. Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall star as two lawyers in England called upon to represent the single surviving suspect apprehended after a particularly deadly terrorist attack in London. He will represent the suspect in public court, while she will represent him in a closed classified court, privy to more information from MI5 and the government. They are ordered not to communicate, though this will not be a difficulty as they are former lovers who don’t really like each other that much. (This plot point is by the film’s end almost completely irrelevant, and the stunning lack of chemistry with which Bana and Hall interact is a major drag.) Bana is representing the young man after the previous lawyer on the case died; he soon discovers, after a cursory investigation, the same secret that puts his own life in danger. “Closed Circuit” has the makings of something interesting, but it never gets off the ground, with fine ideas half-explored or ignored with little regard. $29.98 DVD, $34.98 Blu-ray.

“I’M SO EXCITED”

Pedro Almodovar goes way, way too broad with the campy comedy “I’m So Excited,” a rare misstep for the Spanish auteur and something of an unfunny drag after the master director’s last few thrilling melodramas. Almodovar has, of course, proven quite adept with colorful, campy broad comedy in the past, but this aimless farce is hardly a return to form. “I’m So Excited” takes place on a troubled flight above Spain as two bisexual pilots, three gay flight attendants and a mixed bag of business class passengers, including a middle-aged virginal woman who claims she has visions of the future, are confronted with an unexpected problem with the aircraft that could result in their deaths. As the plane circles in the skies in search of a safe place to attempt a landing, its flight attendants get drunker, its pilots grow more adventurous and its passengers trade bawdy lines until they start trading other things, too. “I’m So Excited” is filled with actors and actresses Almodovar has worked with in the past — perhaps two of the most famous show up in a small cameo at the beginning. The performances are not the problem. And on a scene to scene basis, there are some amusing jokes and committed farcical lunacy; the song and dance number from which the film gets its title is a hoot. But the film is uncharacteristically slapshod for Almodovar, poorly paced with no momentum. There’s no sense of cohesion, other than the camp and sexual humor that pervades it; the film ends up feeling quite a bit like the aircraft, moving aimlessly with no goal in site. $40.99 DVD/Blu-ray combo.